


Proper Wing-care by Dorian Pavus

by lilnaugrim



Series: Winged Thedas [4]
Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Cullen is Sick, Dorian Helps, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-12
Updated: 2016-05-12
Packaged: 2018-06-08 00:45:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6832048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lilnaugrim/pseuds/lilnaugrim
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cullen comes down with a virus that had been spreading through Skyhold. Dorian discovers him and tries his best to help until he finds out how bad Cullen's wing care is!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Proper Wing-care by Dorian Pavus

                Dorian sighed as he sat on his nest, preening himself. His beautiful black feathers had finally grown back completely except for one annoying secondary that had grown in slightly crooked, everything was fine. Cullen had healed quicker than he and his feathers had come back in within three weeks instead of the usual four, his wings had completely healed and he was able to fly again without a hitch. The sword wound on his side was only a scar now, a reminder of the event just as Dorian’s turned feather was. He fussed with it and when it refused to turn, he grumbled and left it alone; eventually it’d fall out with all the fussing and he’d train it to grow back straight as it had been before. It was easier to maintain a single feather or a couple feathers that had fallen out from preening, to keep them straight. Dorian had lost nearly half his feathers on each wing and so, trying to maintain them all at the same time was an immense job. He would take nearly an hour out of his day just to care for them each morning. He had been pleased that most of them had grown back with the same luster that they had before, golden tips and all. Cullen always chastised him for taking so long in grooming himself but he loved the way Dorian’s feathers looked and felt, he would faun over them when they were resting in Cullen’s nest or just near each other for an extended period of time.

                Dorian settled himself, his image was finally presentable again as it neared noon time. He’d go through this almost daily, an hour for his wings and another for the rest of his body. Cullen would say that he took too much pride in his body sometimes, it made Dorian chuckle when he thought about it. He’d go up to his office later and Cullen would tick at him for visiting so late. The Commander would have been up for nearly seven hours at that point, he would have eaten breakfast and lunch as well, he would have finished the soldier’s morning training sessions and would have sorted out his reports already, or he would have been called to the war table for discussion on the Inquisition’s next move. It made Dorian exhausted just thinking about all the things his lover did over the course of the day.

                Dorian grabbed a couple sandwiches from the kitchen; Cullen was always hungry and so what better thing to do than feed your lover? Dorian loved to feed him, Cullen wouldn’t question the extra food or where it came from if Dorian happened to import some more gourmet items from a tie he had in Tevinter. Dorian wondered if he could ever put an ounce of fat on the Commander, just a little pudge in his belly—not likely, with all the working out he did over the day, he figured. He smiled to himself as he walked through Solas’s rotunda and out through the door to the battlements. A scout exited the office, nodding to Dorian as they passed each other.

                Dorian went to greet his lover with explicitly taunting words but upon finding no lover at his usual desk, he stopped his intake of air in favor of looking about. He hummed with confusion when he saw the big stack of papers on Cullen’s desk, it wasn’t neat and orderly like he usually saw it at this point. The papers had been slung there, covering the desk completely, untouched by his lovers hands. The room in and of itself looked to be untouched all morning. The cloak he sometimes wore wasn’t hanging by the door, it had been slung over the back of his chair. The fire had long gone out and Cullen’s boots had been tossed by the desk as well; very much unlike him, they also were usually in his roost.

  “Well, well, well, what do we have here?” Dorian murmured to himself when he went forward and discovered Cullen’s armor behind the desk, it too was usually up in the roost on a very specific shelf that he kept them in for the night or when he wasn’t wearing them—let’s be honest, that was a rare occasion. “Humph, I should hide it on him,” he rolled his eyes before smirking mischievously, “no…it’d be just the time that Corypheus would chose to attack and the poor Commander would be left to his smalls…I’d protect his dignity,” he chuckled to himself. “Cullen, my dear? Are you up there?” he called up to the roost. He grinned when he heard a low grunt and wondered what mischief his lover was in now. Dorian flapped his wings once to propel himself up to the top rung of the ladder; he wanted to peek into the nest to see what his Commander was up to. He frowned when he saw the pair of wings spread out in the nest and Cullen curled up under them.

  “Cullen darling, what are you doing in nest still?” he climbed up the rest of the way to enter the roost, confused. Cullen didn’t respond but Dorian didn’t miss the shiver of the wings. “Darling?” he asked again as he came closer, it startled Dorian when Cullen started to cough hard and ragged into his pillow. The Commander grumbled and groaned at the force of the cough but stayed curled up in his ball under the blankets besides his wings sticking out. “Oh amatus, are you sick?” Dorian caught on when he was close enough. Cullen grunted his affirmation and sniffled with his runny nose. “Ah, so that is why you didn’t do the paper work downstairs, perhaps that’s why your armor is missing…” Dorian tried his humor. Cullen’s reddened eyes shot open to glare over his wing. “I kid my dear, I kid, everything is downstairs just as you left them,” he chuckled and sat at the edge of the nest. He reached out to brush the blonde hair back, it was a mess likely from tossing and turning in his supposed sleep. Cullen groaned at the touch and tried to lean into it but he didn’t move very far, he huffed and closed his eyes again.

  “You’re all fevered too, sweaty,” Dorian noted, growing concerned with the amount of symptoms that he had. “This isn’t just Lyrium withdrawal, is it?” he asked.

  “Just…a cold,” Cullen grumbled, his voice was scratchy too.

  “Ha!” Dorian said, “a cold? This isn’t just a cold my dear, this is much, much worse!” he exclaimed. “Come, you can take a cool bath in my room and I’ll get you some elfroot, maybe the healer can throw in something extra too, you need it,” he stood up. When Cullen didn’t follow Dorian sighed and looked around. “Come on love, are you just too cold? Sore?” he asked. Cullen nodded in reply. “That’s helpful…” he grumbled. “Alright, come on, you’re just going to have to brave it for me amatus, I can’t very well bathe you here,” he began to take the blankets down, revealing that Cullen was stark naked still. Dorian smiled at him but he couldn’t speak the quip that he wanted to about his lover being naked for him, Cullen was in too much pain at the moment, he could see that. Cullen shivered in the cold; it didn’t help the roof still wasn’t fixed. “Come, you have to help me,” Dorian tried to get him to fold his wings, he marveled when even his wings felt damp with fever sweats. Cullen groaned at the push but in his wings went, still shivering and still sweating. “The quicker you help me, the sooner you can be in a nice cool bath,” he tried to tempt him, it didn’t seem to help.

  “Alright…you aren’t going to like this,” Dorian sighed when Cullen at least had his smallclothes on. Cullen looked to him questioningly. “I’m going to grab you and use my fade-walk to get us to my room, alright?” he explained what he intended to do. Cullen groaned louder this time, “oh shush you, it’s the only thing that will make you move, now work with me!” Dorian ticked at him before he wrapped his arms around the Commander and picked him up off the nest with a little difficulty. Even though they were about the same size, Cullen was much bulkier in muscle than he which meant he weighed more. Once Cullen was essentially being held like a toddler, Dorian used his fade-walk to move them both out of Cullen’s roost and towards his own room. It was difficult with the two of them but they eventually made it.

  “Ophf!” Dorian nearly tripped over himself when they stopped at his nest, “Maker! You need to lay off the muscle-making!” he huffed with the exertion, he caught Cullen’s smile at the remark before he got him standing again to remove the smalls and then walk him over to the bath in the corner of the room. “Come on, in you go, I’ll have the water fetched,” he helped to lift the legs over the top and eventually slide the man in, “no, no, wings in too,” he tucked them back in when Cullen tried to extend them.

  “S’too hot,” Cullen grumbled at him, barely conscious.

  “I don’t care, you need to cool down,” Dorian shook his head, “stay put,” he commanded even though it was hardly necessary. He went to his open door to find some recruit to have them fetch the water. He made sure to specify that all of it—minus one bucket of freezing water—should be lukewarm but erring on the side of cool. The recruit gave him a strange look but left with the orders while Dorian went back to the room to close the door. Cullen was grumbling still and whining like a child; he knew that it would get Dorian’s attention. “If you keep up this childish business, I’m liable to leave you, you know. It’s supposed to be me who whines and grumbles about things, not the other way around,” he chuckled when he came back over and started to pull out the divider so his naked Commander wouldn’t be so red and blushed when the recruit came back with the water.

  “So…when did you get sick? I’m not sure if I saw you yesterday, did it start then?” he asked Cullen as he sat on the side of the tub and began to run his fingers through the sweaty hair again; it was disgusting feeling but he knew it felt good. Cullen nodded slightly. “Fever, your lips are chapped, sweating,” he began to list off the symptoms, “do you have a head ache?” he asked, Cullen nodded, “light sensitivity or just an ache?”

  “Light,” Cullen whispered.

  “Throat scratchy?” Cullen nodded. “Hard to breathe?” Cullen shook his head. “Have you gotten sick?” Cullen grimaced but nodded. “While you soak, I’ll get the healer to take a look at you,” Dorian cupped the reddened cheeks before he bent over to kiss Cullen’s sweaty forehead. Cullen breathed out as the soothing spell passed through him, making him feel light as a feather. “You just rest darling,” Dorian told him quietly before he got up to see what was taking the recruit so long.

                Once the water arrived, Dorian made sure it was the right temperature before he started to fill the tub with the cooler water. Cullen grumbled and shivered at it but once it was in, his body evened the temperature out with his fever and he relaxed. Dorian took a cloth and dipped it in the very cold water and started to dab at Cullen’s face and hair; washing out the sweat that had accumulated. Cullen sighed contently and relaxed into the tub up to his chin.

  “Alright, I’ve got to see to the healer, will you be alright while I’m gone? Not going to slip into the water and drown are you?” he asked. Cullen shook his head and peered up to his boyfriend. “Just want to make sure you aren’t going to die while I’m gone my dear,” Dorian explained the reason for his question, Cullen nodded in understand. “Come on, give me a kiss,” Dorian bent down to urge him into a playful kiss. Cullen turned his head away in fear of infecting his boyfriend too. Dorian chuckled and just kissed his temple instead. “I’ll leave this here in case you want to wet yourself,” he moved the cold water bucket closer and laid the cloth on his forehead when Cullen moved his head back to the center. Dorian stood up and left him to fly down to the healer; it was the quickest method of course.

                Dorian explained to the healer what was wrong with his beloved. The woman sighed to him and motioned to the other recruits in the infirmary who were sick with the same symptoms. She gave him a couple vials of the potion to bring back to Cullen. She approved of the cold bath that Dorian had put him in as well.

  “Make sure you clean out his feathers, they’re likely filled with gunk from sweating too much. You do have a—“ she looked up to him, she was going to ask if he had the tool to clean feather spines but it was clear that Dorian owned all the finest tools, “never mind,” she smiled to him. “Return to me if he isn’t better before tonight after dinner,” she said.

  “Thank you, I truly appreciate this as well as I’m sure the Commander does,” Dorian nodded to her deeply before leaving to fly back to his lover with the vials. “I’ve returned my dear, how do you feel?”

  “No better,” Cullen groaned, he had opened is wings under the water to cool off.

  “Well, you certainly look a little more alive which is what I like to see,” Dorian pranced over, he sat the vials down on the shelf near the tub and took one over to Cullen. “Hmm, your eyes look terrible still,” he hummed as he uncapped the vial. “Open up, this will help,” he tried to feed him the potion. Cullen looked at it through half-lidded eyes and grumbled. He looked up to Dorian in a silent beg to not take it. “No, no, you aren’t getting out of this one, come on, open up amatus,” he urged him. Cullen sighed and coughed first, turning his head away to protect Dorian from him. He grumbled and cleared his throat before turning back to Dorian to accept the potion. Cullen grimaced at the taste but drank it down with Dorian’s pushing.

  “Horrible,” Cullen grumbled at the vial, eyeing it as Dorian took the vial away. Dorian dipped the cloth in the cold water and started to dab at Cullen’s face again while the Commander sighed.

  “What horrible event happened that you despise the taste of Elfroot? I find it absolutely delightful and refreshing!” Dorian questioned, rubbing the cloth through the blonde hair again; it had Cullen humming in delight.

  “Too much, overdose once, bad reaction,” Cullen said, his voice a little stronger.

  “Really? That’s interesting, I’ve never heard of someone overdosing before,” Dorian wondered. “How exactly does that work?” he asked. Cullen groaned and held his stomach at the thought, the unpleasant memory that had made him vomit before. “Alright, you don’t have to speak, you just relax,” Dorian saw the gut reaction. “We’ve got to clean your wings too after this, Maker knows what kind of things have grown in your wings here with this sickness,” he pet Cullen. Cullen looked up at him, slightly alarmed. “What is that look for?” Dorian asked him, dipping the cloth again in the cold water.

  “Preen them?” Cullen asked.

  “Yes, preen, you…seem to have a problem with that?” Dorian asked, dabbing Cullen’s neck and behind his ears.

  “Don’t need to be preened,” Cullen shook his head.

  “You most certainly do! You can’t let that junk fester and rot your beautiful wings out!” Dorian shook his head. “Come on, you’ve soaked long enough, time to dry and preen,” Dorian stood up, he snatched the towel up and presented it to Cullen. Cullen grumbled and groaned as he pulled himself up; the potion worked quickly on him and had restored his strength and dulled the soreness in his body. Dorian still held his arm though and stayed close by to help dry him off. Cullen huffed at being pampered while Dorian toweled him off and put him back into his smallclothes again before ushering him over to the nest.

  “Alright, come on, show me those feathers,” Dorian ordered him when Cullen was in his nest on his back. Cullen turned his head away before he extended his right wing to offer his boyfriend, as if he were embarrassed. “ _Andraste’s tits!”_ Dorian exclaimed upon seeing the inside of his wing. “Have you never preened yourself before?!” Dorian asked him, wide-eyed when he saw all the buildup along the stems of the feathers.

  “Uh…it’s only been about…a year?” Cullen asked. Dorian stared at him, mouth agape and brow furrowed in disbelief. He tried to speak but nothing came out, he motioned to the wing and then to Cullen, still flabbergasted.

  “How have I not seen this before?!” he finally asked. “All this time and you’ve never once preened yourself?! Don’t you understand the dangers this can cause?! The infections! _Maker_! Your wings could rot! How have you gone this long?!” the flood gates opened.

  “Ugh, Dorian, please, you’re giving me a headache, just preen me and get on with it,” Cullen covered his eyes and rubbed at his forehead. He knew the ploy would usually make Dorian cautious with him, suspecting a withdrawal headache to follow shortly, but it didn’t work this time. Dorian was clearly upset with him as he went on ranting about proper wing care and why it was so important. It almost seemed that he was close to tears at one point; Cullen didn’t put it past Dorian to actually cry about his wings. “Dorian…please,” Cullen sat up to prevent him from speaking further by putting his hand over his mouth.

  “—and further more—hey! Don’t you try to quiet me mister!” Dorian pulled away and growled at him.

  “Dorian!” Cullen raised his voice.

  “It’s not my fault that you Ferelden’s don’t know proper hygiene but I at least thought you had the basics! Is it like this for everyone? _Maker!_ Is that why Rengar’s wings haven’t improved all these years? Does anyone here know anything about proper maintenance?!” Dorian asked him.

  “Please Dorian, stop talking and just go on with it, I’m exhausted and I have a feeling that this isn’t going to be painless for me,” Cullen tried for the puppy-dog look instead, angling his head down just right so Dorian could see the circles under his eyes. That made Dorian stop and look at him, finally, something that worked.

  “Well it’s still not my fault,” Dorian added quietly, huffing at him as he gently pushed Cullen back down on the nest.

  “Just think, after you’re done preening yourself, you can come over and preen me afterwards,” Cullen chuckled.

  “Your wings are nearly a fourth larger than mine, it would easily take an hour and a half to finish yours with all this build up you have under here! This job right here is likely going to be about three hours! You’d better make yourself comfortable Commander, I am not going to be gentle,” Dorian warned him before he took out his tools to start on his work. It would be easier with the wings still damp but Dorian knew he had his work cut out for him.

  “I didn’t expect you to be,” Cullen shook his head but grumbled with the pain afterward. “Ow!” Cullen exclaimed when Dorian clamped his tool around the stem of the feather; Dorian looked at him with a jaded expression. “That is…much more uncomfortable than I expected!” Cullen squirmed under the instrument’s hold. Dorian said nothing before he pulled the tool down to remove the gunk. Cullen yelped at the scraping feeling, he could feel it right down to his bones. “You do this every morning?” he asked through his whimper, squirming more as Dorian unclamped the tool and used another to pick the buildup out from around the feather and deposit it into a bucket.

  “ _I_ don’t have to use this tool because _I_ never let my feathers get this dirty!” Dorian seethed at him; clearly angry with Cullen’s wing care.

  “Well I’m sorry I was sick and it made it worse! It doesn’t normally look like this!” Cullen growled back, whimpering as Dorian worked at the second Primary feather.

  “This isn’t due to the sickness Commander, you know that,” Dorian shook his head.

  “Just get on with it!” Cullen snarled back, trying to resist flying out of the nest to escape those uncomfortable tools.

                It did take almost three hours for Dorian to fix the wings, his bucket of gunk was completely full and making him gag. Thankfully his room was on the cliff side face, so he took it and threw the contents out the balcony to remove the smell. Cullen had passed out in the nest from the constant pain of the wing cleaning and possibly the sickness. He’d taken another potion before he’d passed out at least. Dorian shook his head at his lover and ticked at him; both wings were still out stretched as far as they could go. Dorian sighed as he went back over to give him a soothing spell to relieve the soreness of the wings. After all the work that Dorian had done to them, they would be inflamed and stiff. Once the spell visibly worked its way through and Cullen relaxed as he woke, Dorian pushed the wings into their folded positions.

  “S’done?” Cullen asked him, barely awake. Dorian climbed up into the nest to hunker down with him on his side; he was just as exhausted from the endeavor as Cullen was.

  “Yes amatus, all done,” Dorian pulled himself against Cullen’s side to cuddle with him; letting his arm and leg rest over the Commander and his head on Cullen’s still bare chest. Cullen wrapped his arm around Dorian to keep him close.

  “Thanks,” Cullen whispered. The pair drifted back off into sleep together, shirking all duties for the day willingly.


End file.
